Although applicable in principle to arbitrary integrated circuits, the present invention and also the problem area on which it is based will be explained with regard to integrated memory circuits, in particular DRAM cells, in silicon technology.
A stacked capacitor array has a multiplicity of stacked capacitors which are preferably arranged regularly. As is known, a stacked capacitor is preferably connected to a transistor below the capacitor in order to form a DRAM cell. In the known fabrication of stacked capacitors, and particularly of cylindrical stacked capacitors, in a stacked capacitor array, there is the problem that as the aspect ratio of the individual stacked capacitors increases, their mechanical stability decreases. If the aspect ratio of pillar like or crown like capacitors increases above a specific value, then the structures become mechanically unstable. In a disadvantageous manner, capacitors may incline toward one another on account of this instability. If two neighboring capacitors incline toward one another to such an extent that they touch one another, a short circuit arises between these two capacitors, and memory errors occur within a stacked capacitor array. With a lack of mechanical stability, stacked capacitors may also completely topple over and thus bring about defects within the stacked capacitor array.
This problem has been solved hitherto by keeping the aspect ratio of the individual capacitor below a limit value determined empirically. The capacitance that can be achieved per capacitor is thereby limited, however. In order to further improve the large scale integration of memory circuits, however, it is necessary to increase the capacitance of the respective capacitor per chip area by increasing the aspect ratio.